Fortunately, aside from occasionally being confused and unable to remember the past, Brian Clark still remembered matters of cultivation. He taught Andrew Grant how to draw talismans hand by hand, taught him to recognize various herbs, taught him acupuncture points and needling, and also taught him breathing and energy circulation techniques.

When passing on these skills, Brian Clark would always take Andrew Grant up to the dilapidated temple on the mountain, forbidding Andrew Grant's parents from watching. Fortunately, after Andrew Grant began cultivating with Brian Clark, not only did he never fall ill again, but he also seemed to become especially clever and quick-witted, learning everything faster than other children his age, and he was much stronger than his peers. As a result, Andrew Grant's parents simply let Brian Clark teach their son. Sometimes they were curious, but thinking that Brian Clark must be an extraordinary man with his own rules, they refrained from asking what exactly Andrew Grant was learning from him.

As parents, as long as their son was healthy, everything else was secondary.

Two summers ago, Brian Clark finally succumbed to the passage of time and passed away. In his final moments, perhaps in a moment of lucidity before death, he suddenly recalled some memories. Unfortunately, the time left to him was too short, and Andrew Grant only learned a small part in bits and pieces. It was also then that Andrew Grant finally learned his master's name.

Recalling all the moments he had shared with his master, Andrew Grant became lost in thought, only snapping out of it when the wine overflowed the porcelain bowl and spilled out. He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, picked up the bowl filled with huadiao wine, and poured it in front of Brian Clark's grave. Then he picked up another bowl and gulped it down in one go.

A flush rose on his still somewhat youthful and honest face, but it quickly faded.

“Master, since you left, I have practiced diligently every day without slacking off. I have not shown off the skills you taught me in front of others, nor have I used them to do anything bad. Please rest assured, no matter where I go, I will always remember your teachings.” As he spoke, Andrew Grant poured another bowl of huadiao for Brian Clark, drank another bowl himself, and ate some beggar's chicken.

“Oh, right, Master, let me tell you some good news. During my morning practice today, I finally broke through to the third level of Qi Refining. You probably never expected me to make such progress, did you? This is all thanks to the Bagua furnace pendant you left me. There’s a whole world inside it, containing the lifelong cultivation insights of my Danfu Sect ancestor, Ge Hong, as well as a complete scroll of the ‘Baopu Nine Elixirs Profound Scripture.’ It’s just a pity I discovered this secret too late. Otherwise, if you had read this alchemy scripture, perhaps you would have been inspired and wouldn’t have left your disciple so soon.” As Andrew Grant spoke, he reached for the small peachwood sword pendant hanging around his neck. The peachwood sword looked quite ordinary, but when Andrew Grant touched it, a faint green light seemed to flow across it, emitting a subtle peachwood fragrance.

In fact, there had originally been another antique-looking Bagua furnace pendant hanging there, which Brian Clark had left him when he passed away. By accident, Andrew Grant had dripped a drop of blood onto it, and the Bagua furnace actually reacted with his blood, merging into his body and disappearing without a trace. At the same time, however, a great deal of knowledge about cultivation inexplicably appeared in Andrew Grant's mind, most of it related to alchemy and pill-making.

Originally, after six years of cultivation with his master Brian Clark, Andrew Grant had only just barely broken through to the second level of Qi Refining. But after obtaining the cultivation knowledge from the Bagua furnace pendant and practicing the complete ‘Baopu Nine Elixirs Profound Scripture,’ his progress accelerated greatly, and in just two years he had broken through to the third level of Qi Refining.

As he chatted with his master and ate and drank, he didn’t realize that the five-jin jar of wine was already nearly empty. Yet, though he was only sixteen, aside from a bit of redness in his face, there was no sign of drunkenness.

Seeing that the jar of wine was empty, Andrew Grant finally stopped talking, respectfully kowtowed three times before his master’s grave, then got up and walked down the mountain path.

The path was overgrown with weeds, clearly a trail rarely traveled.

At the end of the path was Gejiayang Village. Gejiayang Village used to be a poor and isolated mountain village, but in recent years, Changxi County had vigorously developed tourism, and city people liked to come to the mountains to escape the summer heat and have fun. Because Gejiayang Village was located at the foot of Baiyun Mountain, the highest mountain in Changxi County, it had benefited from this boom. In recent years, not only had a road been built to the village, but with tourists coming, villagers opened small shops, farm stays, or guesthouses in their own homes, making money without even leaving the house.

To attract tourists, the villagers even made a story out of their ancestral hall, claiming that Gejiayang Village was the home of the legendary Eastern Jin Daoist, alchemist, and physician Ge Hong.

In the past, Andrew Grant naturally didn’t believe it, thinking it was just the elders making up stories to attract tourists. But ever since the Bagua furnace pendant disappeared into his body and his mind was filled with new knowledge, he realized that he really was a descendant of Ge Hong. That was why his blood had reacted with the Bagua furnace pendant passed down from the Danfu Sect ancestor Ge Hong.

Andrew Grant's mother, Grace Howard, was a contract teacher at the village elementary school, while his father, William Grant, ran a farm stay at home, serving as both chef and owner.